I sat down with Shelby Young, the actress who plays the scheming Kinsey on Days of Our Lives, earlier this week, when she was in South Florida visiting her family.

Now 18, Shelby started modeling at age 5, then moved on to commercials and acting. She has done extensive voice work, which include commercials and films.

Shelby Young (Kinsey)

Shelby, who’s on recurring status, said she will begin shooting with DOOL again in January. When we spoke, she hadn’t yet seen the script, since she was still in Florida when the script arrived at her L. A. apartment.

But whatever happens, Shelby hopes that Kinsey will be sticking around for awhile.

Shelby originally read for the role of Mia. Although casting director Marnie Saitta didn’t think Shelby was the right fit for that role, she called her back in for the role of Kinsey.

“I got the call later that day that I booked the role,” Shelby said. “It was one episode, possibly recurring. And I’ve been doing it for 1 1/2 years…I love the soap and it would be great to be a contract role. But for the time being, I’m alright with being recurring, because I can do other projects as well.”

One of those “other projects” included a part in this year’s box office hit The Social Network.
“I was so nervous the night before [filming],” she said.

It was her second major feature film. Her first was the 2008 film Wild Child.

“With the soap, you film an episode a day, so you get one take,” she said. “And then I go on set for The Social Network and [director] David Fincher’s known for taking numerous takes. So for my one little scene, it took 60 takes.”

Shelby knew Aaron Sorkin was the screenwriter, but she didn’t know what he looked like.

“So we’re doing the scene and this man comes over to me and said, ‘We’re going to change this line,'” she recalled. “And I said, ‘Won’t Aaron Sorkin mind?’ And [reaching out his hand] he said, ‘Hi. I’m Aaron Sorkin.’ I was a little embarassed, but at least he knew I was looking out for him.”

Even if the movie receives Academy Award nominations (and judging from various other awards and nominations it’s already received, it most likely will), Shelby doesn’t think she’ll be able to go to the ceremony. But she’s hoping to attend some Oscar parties and the gifting suite. She’s been to gifting suites for the Emmy and Grammy Awards.

As far as her role on Days, Shelby’s hoping the new script contains a good storyline for Kinsey.

“One of the things that I dislike about being recurring is that it’s not steady and I never know if I’m filming this month or next month,” she said.

“I’ve had a lot of fun this year,” she said. “I have a new boyfriend and he’s fantastic and I have all my friends and I got my own apartment.”

Shelby said she is also thankful to have an extremely nice roommate in actress Kay Panabaker, who is on the sitcom No Ordinary Family.

In the romance department: after a breakup with actor Charlie McDermott, Shelby is now dating P J Boudousque.

“Pilot season is coming up and I would love to land a pilot and end up getting that picked up and have a great TV series,” she said.

As far as Kinsey goes….

“Kinsey has no filter, first of all, which is why everyone says she’s so mean, but I think she just says it like it is,” Shelby said. “Sometimes she is mean, but she has her reasons. When Kinsey first came on the show, I think a lot of the meanness came from jealousy towards Mia. But now Mia’s gone. And Kinsey’s become funnier lately and I’m happy about that…She’s a misunderstood girl. She has a nice heart somewhere, but she just says what she thinks and that gets her into trouble. She still needs to soften up a bit.”

Kinsey (Shelby Young) and Nicole (Arianne Zucker) in Days.

Shelby started out having all of her scenes with the other teens on the show. This year she has moved on to interactions with some of the adults, including Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe) and Arianne Zucker (Nicole). And Shelby is happy that her character is broadening her interactions.

One thing Shelby is hoping for on the show is that Kinsey gets a boyfriend and a family.

“I’m interested to see where they take Kinsey, because I feel like it could go either way,” Shelby said. “She could end up being a huge schemer and creating havoc in the town or it could go the other way where she does realize she has a heart of gold. Who knows? I love working and I love working on this show. I’m enjoying the time I have here and if they write more for me, I would be thrilled. It’s been a blessing.”

Suzanne Oberman, the advertising layout coordinator at the Palm Beach Daily News, is a HUGE Days of our Lives fan.
Suzanne says she was watching the show “probably in the womb” because her mother got her hooked on the show.
Suzanne is going to help us out again today and offer her commentary as our guest blogger.Chloe’s TransformationBy Suzanne Oberman
On soaps they always send characters to “Europe” when they’ve been written out of the script for one reason or another.
This was no different for Chloe (Nadia Bjorlin) and Brady on Days of our Lives, who shipped off to Vienna after they got married.
But now Chloe’s back- and without Brady.
We found out that Chloe and Brady supposedly got divorced.
And Chloe has transformed from a nice opera-singing girl to a trouble-causing vixen.
First she caused trouble in paradise between Belle and Shawn and then she tried to seduce Philip (Jay Kenneth Johnson with Bjorlin in photo).
However, Philip is much too smart for her and caught on quickly.
Philip had his secretary dig up information on Chloe and found that she is wanted for questioning by the Vienna police.
She says it’s because her visa had expired.
Not likely.
The more plausible and realistic reason is that she is wanted for questioning in the disappearance of Brady.
Chloe claims that she and Brady got into a heated fight, he walked out, and she never saw him again.
And we think – so you just left Vienna and flew back to Salem?
There’s definitely more to this story that Chloe is keeping from us.
Philip, and eventually Marlena, realize this.
Marlena (Deirdre Hall) demands to know where Brady is and is convinced Chloe had something to do with his disappearance.
Roman (Josh Taylor) contacts the Vienna police and they confirm that she is wanted for questioning concerning Brady’s whereabouts.
The Vienna police give Roman permission to take her down to the Salem police department for interrogation.
Could Chloe have gone from goth Ghoul Girl, to a beautiful opera singer, to a cold-blooded murderer?
I think in the coming weeks we will see a side to Chloe that has just begun to emerge.
And I can’t wait!-SUZANNE OBERMAN